4/18: I just updated notes10.txt to include material for all
of Chapter 8 that we will cover.

4/17: The Distinguished Lecture by Prof. Nancy Lynch, originally
scheduled for April 20, has been cancelled.
Therefore, culture assignment 5
is changed to be either attending any CS Department seminar and
writing a report or reading any CS journal article and writing
a report. Follow the same guidelines as for DLS seminars and their
substitutions.

4/11: Please study the notes for yesterday's lecture
(notes10.txt) for correction to
material on antisymmetric property.

2/12: Distinguished Lecturers Kai Li and Bill Wulf have had to
postpone their visits. Therefore, culture assignments 2 and 3
are changed to be either attending any CS Department seminar and
writing a report or reading any CS journal article and writing
a report. Follow the same guidelines as for DLS seminars and their
substitutions. I have also adjusted the due date for culture
assignment 2 because of Exam 1.

2/8: Following our conversation in class on Tuesday, I've
shortened HW 2 somewhat by making a few of the problems optional.
You should still know what the optional questions are asking about,
though.

2/7: More on accessing IEEE Computer and Communications
of the ACM for culture report 1: You can go to Evans Library
to get copies. Or you can access them from the Evans Library
web page:
http://library.tamu.edu/portal/site/Library/.
Click on Indexes/Databases, put in "IEEE" as your search term, and
then click on "IEEE Xplore". This is the IEEE digital library -
search for "IEEE Computer". Do the similar thing for "ACM".

1/30: Fenghui will probably be unable to be in his office hours
on Tuesday. He will make them up on Wednesday afternoon and/or
Thursday morning. Please email him about meeting with him
(fhzhang (at) cs.tamu.edu).

1/25: If you cannot attend any CS department seminars before
culture 1 report is due (on Feb 8), you may read an article from
one of the following two journals: Communications of the ACM
or IEEE Computer and write your report on that.
Both journals are available on the web, if you are on a computer
that is behind the TAMU firewall (TAMU has subscriptions).

1/22: Due to other scheduling constraints, I had to change my
office hours that were listed on the paper syllabus I handed
out in class last week. My office hours this semester will be
Mondays 2:30 - 4:00 and Wednesdays, 1:30 - 3:00. Contact me
to arrange other times if you have conflicts.

Provide mathematical foundations to allow the students to analyze
computer algorithms, both for correctness and performance

Provide introduction to two models of computation: finite automata
and Turing machines

Course Content and Tentative Schedule:
The course will cover the following topics.

week of

topic

reading

1/16, 1/23

Logic and Proofs

Ch 1

1/30

Sets, Functions, Sequences and Sums

Ch 2

2/6, 2/13

Algorithms and their Complexity

Ch 3

2/20, 2/27

Induction and Recursion

Ch 4

3/6

Counting

Ch 5

3/13

SPRING BREAK

.

3/20, 3/26

Solving Recurrences

Ch 7

4/3

Relations

Ch 8

4/10, 4/17, 4/24

Models of Computation

Ch 12

Assignments and Grading:
All assignments will be announced in class and posted on the web page
calendar.
If you miss class for any reason, it is your responsibility to find
out what assignments you missed.

Your grade will be based on four components:

exams 60% -
There will be two mid-term exams and one final exam, each worth 20%.
The exams will be held in class.

quizzes 10% -
There will be 11 short weekly quizzes,
consisting of a few simple questions
(short answer, true-false, or multiple choice) concerning the reading
and/or the material covered in the last class.
The purpose of the quiz is to encourage you to do the reading in
advance and to stay caught up in the class.
Your lowest quiz grade will be dropped.

culture 5%
This component is to round out your classwork.
Attend and write short reports on five computer science seminars.
More details are here.

There will be no make-up exams and no late assignments
accepted except for
university-excused absences.
Please discuss unusual circumstances in advance
with the instructor when possible.

Course grades will be assigned according to this scale:

percent of total points

90-100

80-89

70-79

60-69

< 60

letter grade

A

B

C

D

F

Collaboration:
For the assignments in this class, discussion of concepts with others
is encouraged, but all assignments must be done on your
own, unless otherwise instructed.
Reference every source you use,
whether it be a person, a book, a paper, a solution set, a web page or
whatever.
You MUST write up your assignments in your own words.
Copying is strictly forbidden.
Every assignment must be turned in with
this
cover sheet, which lists all sources you used.

Academic Integrity Statements:
The Aggie Honor Code is
"An Aggie does not lie, cheat, or steal or tolerate those who do."
Upon accepting admission to Texas A&M University, a student
immediately assumes a commitment to uphold the Honor Code, to accept
responsibility for learning, and to follow the philosophy and rules of
the Honor System. Students will be required to state their commitment
on examinations, research papers, and other academic work. Ignorance
of the rules does not exclude any member of the TAMU community from
the requirements or the processes of the Honor System.
For additional information please visit: http://www.tamu.edu/aggiehonor/ .

Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) Policy Statement:
The Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) is a federal
antidiscrimination
statute that provides comprehensive civil rights protection for
persons
with disabilities. Among other things, this legislation requires that
all students with disabilities be guaranteed a learning
environment that provides for reasonable accommodation of their
disabilities. If you believe you have a disability requiring an
accommodation, please contact the Department of Student Life,
Services for Students with
Disabilities in Cain Hall, Rm. B118,
or call 845-1637.

There is a lot more to Computer Science than you will be exposed
to through your normal coursework.
The purpose of the culture activities is to give you an
opportunity to learn about current research trends in computing.
Keeping up with trends and learning to evaluate critically
what you hear and read are valuable professional skills.

You are to attend five computer science seminars and write a report
on each one.
Four of the seminars are those making up the
Department of Computer Science
Distinguished Lecturer Series;
the fifth seminar is of your choosing from the Department's
other seminar series
(see here
for a list).
Each report is to be one to two pages long, typed, and must include

date and title of talk, name and affiliation of speaker;

summary of the talk;

at least one comment about the paper or question that it raised
in your mind, indicating that you have thought critically about
the material presented.